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Cosmonaut / Astronaut

Pavel Belyayev

ommander of Voskhod 2 and a seasoned military pilot. When the automatic system failed during return, he carried out the first-ever manual controlled landing of a Soviet crewed spacecraft.
Spaceflights
Portrait of cosmonaut Pavel Belyayev in uniform.
Spaceflights
1
Time in space
≈ 1 day

Biography

The oldest member of the first cosmonaut corps and the only one who had seen wartime service. After the emergency landing of Voskhod 2 in deep taiga he spent two freezing nights with Leonov before rescuers reached them.

Missions

Spaceflights

VOS

18 March 1965

Voskhod 2

On 18 March 1965 Voskhod 2 delivered the first human spacewalk: Alexei Leonov spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside the spacecraft. The return nearly ended in tragedy — a ballooned spacesuit, an automatic-system failure and an emergency landing in snowbound taiga hundreds of kilometres off target.

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Facts

Things you may not know

  1. He performed the first manual controlled landing of a Soviet crewed spacecraft.

  2. He was the oldest member of the first cosmonaut corps.

  3. After landing in the taiga he waited with Leonov for rescue for two nights in frost of around −5 °C.

Crews

Flew together

Alexei LeonovCosmonaut / AstronautAlexei LeonovVoskhod 2
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